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Programming languages for beginners Part 2

In 2016, the language suddenly got another advantage: it is convenient to write the bots for messengers.

PHP - a popular and relatively simple

The popularity of PHP is undeniable: it is used by Facebook, "Wikipedia" etc. It is also WordPress based system, running on about a quarter of all sites.

PHP is easy to learn, but it has a controversial reputation, and these two things are connected. Because of the simplicity of the language in the industry there are a lot of newcomers with the desire to engage in professional PHP development, without going into details. So there was a lot of bad PHP code. Because of this, some people criticize PHP, but others argue that in skilled hands he shows his best side.

In the list of options, there are a few less popular alternatives - from Ruby to gaining momentum Go.

Android: Java for applications and bots

If web development you can choose any language, in the case of Android everything is much straightforward: they are written in Java. Theoretically, an alternative could be Java-compatible languages, or a bunch of JavaScript and HTML - but neither that, nor another has not yet become massively popular, so the job an Android developer is typically the requirement to know one specific language.

Android Java development is markedly different from the development of backend in the same language, and when you try to go from one to the other will have a lot to learn. However, the opportunity to change my life without having to start from scratch, is another argument in favor of Java.

iOS: Swift and Objective-C - only for Apple

For many years the only language for developing iOS apps Objective-C. In 2014, Apple introduced Swift as "advanced Objective-C" and is now writing for iOS in both languages. Swift yet is still quite young, but his prospects are brighter: perhaps in coming years it will become the primary language of iOS development. However, many believe that one should first learn Objective-C.

The disadvantage of Swift is that it is restricted to developing for iOS and macOS: in other areas it is currently applied. The dignity of the language that it was designed for beginners, so as a first language may be easier for many others. Recently Apple released for iPad kids app of Swift Playgrounds, designed to teach the language from the cradle.

Game development

Game development with their performance requirements and the need to interact with the "iron" is a rather complicated field. The game was even written in C and C++.

Over time, popular search engines, for example Unity: when creating a game, he will take on the hardest tasks. The developer at this time will focus on solving available problems. There is no need to write in the C language, which appeared in the 1970-ies instead a suitable higher-level C#, which some people call "Microsoft's response to Java", or the already mentioned JavaScript.

C# is used for many other applications, from Windows applications to the same backend and mobile application development. Therefore, if the original language is required to create games, then when you change the direction the acquired knowledge is definitely not lost.

Of course, the list of languages is not limited to the mentioned: some people prefer young Kotlin, created in St. Petersburg, and someone from the 1980s used to Smalltalk. And the range of tasks is also not limited to the following: there are "low-level", such as writing drivers.

However, what was not included in the list, usually either narrow and niche (Smalltalk jobs in short supply), or ill-suited for the beginners (low level requires serious preparation). So the first thing you should pay attention to the languages listed, and then it will be easy to understand and the rest.